The invention relates to a kit and kit components that are useful for filling paintball rounds into paintball reservoir tubes or supply hoppers.
Paintball is a sport played among participants by propelling at each other a plurality of water soluble paint-filled gelatin capsules through a gas-powered marker. Games are often played with two teams previously or spontaneously xe2x80x9corganizedxe2x80x9d to compete on a designated field of terrain, structure, and/or scenario.
There are a wide variety of marker designs, clothing, and eye protection goggles. Skill and interest levels vary widely as do current prices for 0.68 caliber (typically 0.682-0.692 inches in diameter) paintball rounds. Paintballs are available in 2000-2400 round cases for $40-$75 (US) or $0.02-$0.04 per paintball round. Most cases are made of four 500 or 600 round plastic bags.
Paintball rounds are not very accurate. Due to their spherical shape and liquid-filled center, the paintball does not react to traditional methods of trajectory stabilization. Reasonable accuracy is achievable to distances of about 10-15 m (30-50 ft). Beyond that, spin on the paintball can cause erratic behavior unless the diameter of the paintball is well matched to the internal diameter of the barrel. This, and a widespread misunderstanding of the drop rate due to gravity, explain why most paintball games are characterized by a xe2x80x9chitxe2x80x9d rate of about 3-5%. Nonetheless, the exhilaration and adrenaline of the game mean that many paintball rounds will be fired from carried reservoir tubes.
The most common, commercially available supply hoppers that feed the marker will hold 200-300 rounds. This hopper is often refilled many times during a 15 minute match. Thus, additional reservoir tubes are typically worn in a waist harness and hold 100, 140, or 200 paintballs. Many players carry 2-10 additional reservoir tubes.
There is no good method for filling reservoir tubes quickly. Many players load paintballs into the tubes one handful at a time. Others cut a hole in one end of the bag and try to pour the paintballs while juggling the filling tube and emptying bag. An assistant is often used. These processes are relatively slow and are subject to slips that spill the entire tube or bag. It is well accepted that paintball rounds cannot, or at least should not, be used after a spill onto unpaved ground due to the adverse effects of particulate contamination on the fairly close tolerances of internal moving parts in the marker. Spilled paintball rounds represent a significant loss of time, resources, and investment.
For tournament players, speed to refill can an essential element between successive rounds. The team who can refill the fastest has a marked advantage in the subsequent game.
It would be advantageous to have a process and system that would help an individual to fill one or more paintball reservoir tubes rapidly, with high stability, and without the assistance of others.
It would also be helpful to have a filling process and system that would reduce the time needed to fill a reservoir tube or supply hopper with paintball rounds. It would be especially useful to have a process and fill system that would allow a player or team mate to refill one or more tubes in the 3-5 minutes.
It is an objective of the invention to provide a fling process and fill system components that are useful alone or in combination to help fill one or more paintball reservoir tubes or a supply hopper quickly and with reduced chances for inadvertent spills.
It is also an objective of the invention to provide a process for filling one or more paintball reservoir tubes with fill system components that will allow a reservoir tube to be filled faster than sequential handfuls of paintball rounds.
A further objective of the invention is to provide a process and fill system that allows the simultaneous filling of two or more paintball reservoir tubes.
In accordance with these and other objectives of the invention that will become apparent from the description herein, a reservoir tube filling process according to the invention comprises: filling a vertically standing, cylindrical paintball reservoir tube with a plurality of paintballs by directing said paintballs into said reservoir tube with a paintball fill funnel that is supported on an upper edge of said reservoir tube in a substantially horizontal plane, wherein said fill funnel exhibits (a) an open, unobstructed top opening having a peripheral top rim, (b) an interior bowl chamber having lateral guiding surfaces that direct paintballs downwardly without obstruction and inwardly to (c) at least one unobstructed outlet spout that leads said paintballs directly into said reservoir tube, wherein said fill funnel is supported on an upper edge of said reservoir tube in a substantially horizontal plane by at least one horizontally extending support shoulder formed into an outer surface of said fill funnel.
A gravity-based paintball fill funnel according to the invention has: (a) an open, unobstructed top opening having a peripheral top rim, (b) an interior bowl chamber having lateral guiding surfaces that direct paintballs downwardly without obstruction and inwardly to (c) at least one unobstructed outlet spout that leads said paintballs directly down and out through a bottom discharge opening. Preferably, the outlet spout has vertically extended, nontapering, cylindrical parallel wall inner wall surfaces. Even more preferably, the inner wall surfaces are smooth and featureless. The outer surfaces should also be cylindrical, parallel, and in close fit to the inside surfaces of the paintball reservoir tubes. At least one support shoulder is formed on or secured to the outside of the spout so that the fill funnel rests in a level plane on the top edge of the paintball reservoir tube. The support shoulder or shoulders support the fill funnel in a stable, substantially horizontal plane that is substantially perpendicular to the vertical axis of the reservoir tube and allows the fill funnel to remain within the reservoir tube despite the lateral forces seen by rapid filling of the funnel and reservoir tubes.
Also included in a fill system according to the invention is a paintball reservoir tube support base that will provide stable, vertical support for one or more reservoir tubes. The support base has at least one, and preferably a plurality of openings, each dimensioned to receive a paintball reservoir tube and support it upright with stability during a filling. The support base can exhibit a number of configurations.
Used alone or in combination, the filling process and system according to the invention provide shorter fill times with reduced paintball losses from slips and spills.